Evil Dead: Dark Carnival
by gabriel ricard
Summary: Here it is at long last the Evil Dead/ICP crossover pitting our hero Ash against a virtual army of evil clowns, jugglers and jokers cards all led by the demonic Butterfly!
1. Chapter One

Evil Dead: Dark Carnival

Written By. Gabe Ricard

Here it is. After two months of blood, sweat, tears and drunken stupor I can bring you with the utmost confidence the Evil Dead/ICP crossover in it's entirety which had been broken up into 13 chapters to make it easier to read. So kick back pour some Sake and get ready for what will hopefully be one of the best Evil Dead/ICP fan fics ever written by a guy who's name starts with a G. 

**__**

Chapter One-Why does this always happen to me?

"Well…what the hell should I do now?" Ash shook his head sighed looking back on the city of Nibelheim as he did. He saw his 73' Oldsmobile and yawned. He had just finished helping some kid named Gabe rescue some drunken old guy from a mad scientists house (See Housewarming Party) and now, once again he was trapped on a world he wasn't familiar with. He shrugged it off it wasn't anything new but it was still annoying. He keyed up his car giving it a minute to warm up before speeding off then less then a couple hours later hearing a small explosion and saw smoke beginning to rise out of the hood out of his car.

"Just great…" he shook his head and sighed again. He knew he wasn't going to get this fixed tonight. "May as well just get some sleep." He thought aloud. He left the hood up and walked to the door. He looked back and squinted seeing a town in the far distance. "I'll head in there tomorrow morning and see if anyone can help me out…I'm too tired anyway," he opened the door and crawled into the front seat, unhooking his chainsaw arm and tossing it in the back before falling asleep almost instantly.

"Someone needs to turn that god damn clown music of-wha?!?!" Ash shot straight up banging his head on the roof of the car and looked around, "How the hell did I wake up on carnival grounds?!" he reached towards the back seat and grabbed his chain-saw and hooked it back into his arm. He then kicked the door open and shot out looking around at the carnival grounds he had mysteriously woken up on. Ash sensed something evil about the carnival the moment he got out of the car. His suspicions where confirmed when he heard an aged grated voice not too far from where he was.

"Come one! Come all! Come one! Come all!"

Ash heard that the voice was very near and walked away from his car and towards the voice. The whole area was incredibly creepy mostly because it was deserted as far as Ash could see. The voice he had been following jostled him out of his thoughts.

"Hello there sir! Yes yes what a lucky day it is for you! A lucky day indeed!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" snapped Ash face to face with the face that fit the voice he had been following. The man resembled a ringmaster from the days of freakshows. He had an incredibly old face and long, crooked rotting teeth.

"A good question sir! A good question indeed! I'll get right to it!" the old ringmaster turned slightly away from Ash to an audience that had seemingly come from nowhere. Among the small crowd was an array of hideous freaks as well as people dressed in clown outfits.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Here to present our main attraction, the dyspicles of the dark carnival, two misguided souls that have been spreading its message and keeping it strong for it's return. Ladies and gentlemen I bring to you…Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J!!

These where two people Ash had heard of. Remembering they where friends of Gabe and had been at that housewarming party only yesterday.

Violent J dressed in a tacky, out of place lime green business suit looked to be getting ready to address the crowd. "Thank you…thank you….here it is ya'll" He reached into the front pocket of his business suit and pulled out a seemingly ordinary jokers card. "The sixth jokers card which holds the man himself…the man who has been storing his power for his return and now…now…we can bring him back…. freaks and ho's…lemme bring to ya, the sixth jokers card….the true and only power in the universe…the-

"Just get on with the shit!" snapped Shaggy.

"Oh yeah….here he is bitchboys…THE BUTTERFLYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!"

"The Butterfly?!" whispered Ash to himself. "What kind of name is that?!" Ash shook his head and continued to watch the bizarre ceremony going on in front of him his gun held uneasily near his gun which he was ready to bring out at any moment.

A second later, Violent J threw the card onto the ground creating a tremendous wall of fire that disappeared as a figure emerged from the flames. The Butterfly wore a leather jacket with a face not unlike ICP's except this face looked far more evil with eyes that held pure hell inside them and his face was covered in jagged scars. His black scraggy hair hung over his face a wicked sneer on his face. Violent J handed him the Mic and stepped back. "Thank you everyone…It has been a very long time since the last time I addressed all of you…but now we can begin where we left off and fill the world with pure darkness…" He turned to ICP. "You two…have kept my name and my carnival alive in my absence but now…. your usefulness has ended."

"What the fuck are you-ahhhh!" The Butterfly cut him off with a wave of his arm levitating ICP above the crowd.

"The shit is this?!" cried Shaggy, "You NEED us man!"

The Butterfly threw his head back and laughed, "Need you? You're nothing more than pathetic street trash that was about three seconds away from being drive-by victims when I found you…You may have carried my message but you also filled it with pathetic lies about the carnival…By the way there is indeed a hell and when you get there give my regard to the man himself…bye. Bye" The Butterfly slowly began to clench his fist which appeared to be causing ICP more pain the closer he came to completely closing his fist. Then just as he was about to do this a shot rang out and a bullet bounced off his hand breaking his concentration and dropping ICP to the ground. Everyone looked back in shock to see Ash standing with his shotgun outstretched.

"Hey bozo, if anyone's gonna kill these stupid clowns its gonna be me."

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Names Ash."

"You will PAY for what you did!"

Ash smirked slightly and started up his chain saw arm, "Bring it Bozo."

"Whoever the hell this guy is I want his head! Kill him!" screamed The Butterfly to the small crowd of freaks. One man who had a arm that was five feet long charged at Ash and tried to clothesline him but Ash ducked under, slicing the arm off as he did then catching it and smashing him in the face with it.

"Now that's a bitch-slap," thought Ash shooting two men dressed in demonic clown outfits then slicing a hideously overweight mans head off. Ash never let up for a moment using far more bullets then a shotgun would allow Ash widdled down the numbers until only a small child with a beard stood across from him. Ash saw The Butterfly still watching from the stage.

"You better call wolf-boy back if he's all you got left," suggested Ash.

"You shouldn't underestimate the bearded girl," replied The Butterfly.

__

"There is no way that's a girl," he thought.

"Watch me," with that Ash drew his shotgun and fired several shots at the bearded girl who caught all of them in her teeth and spat them back at Ash who managed to narrowly avoid them. "Well…if bullets are out then I guess chainsaws are in!" Ash jumped to his feet and charged blindly at the bearded girl who jumped over Ash and landed right behind him. Before Ash could react the bearded girl grabbed his leg and threw him with shocking force into a tree. Ash managed to pull his head out of the tree but as he did the bearded girl propelled herself into his stomach like a canon ball then grabbed his hair and threw him into an empty milk bottle booth brining it crashing down on him. 

Ash pushed a piece of the booth off and looked up to see the snarling little girl standing over him holding a boulder above her head. Ash knew he was done for but then a fireball blared behind the wolf-girl who burst into flames and dropped the boulder on top of her. Ash spat one of his teeth out and pulled himself up. "Now what?" In front of him stood ICP who where making obscene gestures at the boulder and snickering "Grand…I've been saved by clowns," muttered Ash regaining his composure. 

He remembered the Butterfly and slowly walked towards the stage where the Butterfly stood cackling a low, dark, tone. "This is quite an interesting development…I'll be waiting for you and I do hope you make it through the carnival. I'd much rather fight you here and now but more important matters demand my attention so as I said before, our battle will have to wait. See you then." When The Butterfly uttered these words he pulled a seemingly ordinary jokers card out of his jacket sleeve and threw it on the ground creating a wall of thick, black smoke around him. When the smoke finally cleared, The Butterfly was no longer standing amongst them and the only thing that could be heard in the now deserted area of the carnival was a faint, cruel laugh that was seeming to be carried through out the carnival by the cold breeze.


	2. Chapter Two

**__**

Chapter Two-Attack of the kung-fu clowns

"Why can't I just GO HOME like normal people?" grumbled Ash out loud. "I'm the only person who has to deal with this sort of thing every time I try and go home."

"Then maybe ya shouldn't go home!"

Ash stopped his train of thought for a moment and slowly turned to see ICP who where now out of their suits and where wearing street clothes. Shaggy was wearing black sweat pants and a white shirt. Violent J was wearing shorts and a JCW T-shirt. Ash aimed his shotgun at the two clowns and scowled. "You two are the last two people I wanna see so I'll give you to the count of ten to-"

"Hey, we saved yer life!" snapped Violent J.

Ash stopped glaring for a moment and appeared to enter deep thought. "Welllll…that is true you two did save my life," He shrugged and focused his aim on them. "But I hate you anyway." 

"Wait a sec!" pleaded Violent J. "We know this carnival like the back of our hands!"

"That's right!" agreed Shaggy nodding quickly. "We can help ya get to that sack of shit The Butterfly!" 

Ash continued to aim the shotgun at ICP while his played out his options in his mind. On one hand he hated rap and more importantly hated clowns. One the other hand, he knew they where right in that they knew this carnival like the back of their hands. Plus, he figured he could use someone to shove in front of some kind of oncoming attack or trap.

"Keep up, you get in trouble it aint my fault," Ash spun his shotgun in his hand and put in he holster behind him.

"Radical!" cackled Shaggy.

J rolled his eyes, "Shut the hell up Shaggy! No one says Radical anymore!"

"Says you Biyatch!"

"No one says that anymore either you dumb bastard!"

"Shut up fat-ass! At least I don't start every damn morning by listening to _Real American!_"

"Why me?" questioned Ash trying to walk as far ahead the two arguing clowns as much as possible. He stopped at the sight of several jugglers in front of a circus tent. "What the-?" Ash watched the jugglers who where now staring at him as they juggled. With all the empty tents and booths, the jugglers where an eerie sight. 

"Oh shit! It's-" Before J could finish, the jugglers began throwing their balls at Ash which exploded as they hit him sending him crashing into a booth. Ash growled, "Juggle THIS ladies," he grinned and pulled out his shotgun in the blink of an eye blasting the next batch of fireballs and shooting two of the jugglers. The third turned to run but was taken out when Ash picked up a couple of the balls and hurled them at the juggler igniting him in flames. 

Ash turned and saw ICP standing and staring at him and already was regretting letting them live. "Thanks for your quick warning guys. 'Like the back of my hand' he sighed and walked over the dead body of the juggler and came to the tent they had been standing in front of. It looked like the rest of the tents; it was large, ominous looking and bright red. Ash turned to the two clowns; "Do you know where this goes?"

J folded his arms and glared, "Oh so NOW we're useful?"

In the blink of an eye, Ash pulled out his shotgun and pointed it towards the direction of ICP. "Last chance…"

Violent J shrugged, "Beats me. There's a million tents like this in the dark carnival."

"You two go first."

"What?! But we-"

"Shotgun… stupid clowns go boom."

Shaggy and Violent J glared and stormed past Ash and stepped into the tent. Silence followed for several moments before Ash heard two screams and smiled slightly before pulling out his shotgun and walking into the tent. _Damn _he thought staring down several men dressed as clowns holding hatchets, knives, and axes. He noticed the terrified looks on the faces of J and Shaggy. "What's wrong with you two?"

"It's kung-fu clowns!" cried Shaggy.

Ash tried really hard not to burst out laughing but did so anyway, "What's the problem?"

"These are some of the most blood-thirsty and mindless zombies of the dark carnival!" replied J who was starting to sound less frantic. "They just keep coming at you no matter what you do to them!"

"Plus they know kung-fu!" piped in Shaggy.

Ash turned on his chain saw, "Groovy." He began firing on several of the clown zombies which where slowly coming towards him and ICP. Ash soon saw that Violent J was right. His shotgun was doing little to slow them down. Moving on to his next option, Ash tossed the shotgun aside and swerved his chain saw arm at two of the clown zombies sawing their heads clean off. Ash drove his chain saw through the chest of another oncoming clown zombie, pulled it out just as quickly then, grabbed the back of its head and drove his knee into it's throat. Ash threw the clown zombie as far out of the tent as possible and turned around to just barely avoid a headless clown zombie try to drive an ax into his skull. Ash fell backwards, knocking his chain saw from on to off. Ash saw the two zombies he had just previously beheaded where now up despite having nothing above the shoulders. Ash reached over, grabbed his shotgun and unloaded several bullets into the two zombies until they lay unmoving. Ash saw two more coming his way and gritted his teeth, turning his chain saw arm back on and charging at them head on. His attack stopped abruptly as he heard a whirring sound. He looked up and saw several playing cards shoot just an inch from his head and hit the zombies slicing them into several pieces. Ash watched the body parts flop around for several moments then looked back to see ICP seemingly posing in victory. Ash's urge to kill them was continuing to grow at a steady rate.

"We kick ass!" grinned Shaggy.

"Damn right!" agreed Violent J high fiving his partner.

Ash began gritting his teeth again. "Are you going to tell me that you had those things the whole damn time?"

"Yep."

"I don't see any kinda thanks for us saving yer ass." 

"Yeah!" agreed Shaggy. "What the hell's up with that?!"

Ash's fist was shaking, "Let's-move-ON." He moved towards the door and walked out of the tent. Before following Shaggy turned to Violent J. "We are SO radical!"

Violent J groaned, I told you to stop saying that!"

****

Meanwhile…

The Butterfly watched ICP leave the tent and smiled, "I expected the three of them to make it past a few of those clown zombies." He spun himself around in his chair from the huge wall of monitors and faced two men who where dressed in street clothes and had face paint similar to what ICP wore but with a far darker look to it.

"Really?" asked the taller of the two clowns. "I've never seen anybody take out kung-fu clown zombies like that!" the taller clown was actually quite tall at 6'10 and a 300-pound frame to match the size perfectly. He wore unremarkable A & N type clothing and had a pair of dark sunglasses with small lenses hiding his eyes.

"Don't worry Jake…there's still much, much more within this carnival that Ash and those pathetic lap dogs have yet to face. They won't make it to us and even if they where too I'm more than a match for them." He averted his stare to a smaller man dressed similar to Jake and even with the same makeup but did not have any glasses to hide his pure-white eyes. "Isn't that right Jack?"

"No doubt master. I've been wanting to wring the necks of those two for quite some time. And the freak with a chain-saw won't get very far past THESE!" he raised his hands and his fingers suddenly grew into long sharp knives. He sneered and a second later, the fingers resumed their normal look.

"Still…I wonder if some extra precautions should be taken at this point to ensure they won't make it through." The Butterfly stroked his chin thoughtfully for several moments before leaning his head back. "Not at the moment. For now let's just watch the show and see how they do. I think I'll have a better advantage if I postpone my attack. What do you both think?"

"Sounds good to me," agreed Jack

"We can take all the time we want," concurred Jake.

"Fine…for the moment we will simply watch. However, you should be ready to pay them a 'visit' on my command."

"Yes Master," they replied in unison.

"Good." he turned back to the wall of monitors and leaned back to watch the show.


	3. Chapter Three

**__**

Chapter 3-In the belly of the beast

"Would you two mind keeping the hell up?" snapped Ash turning around to see Violent J and Shaggy collectively known as ICP trailing a good deal behind him.

"Shut up!" retaliated J. "It's hard work walkin across this damn carnival!"

"Maybe if ya weren't eating those steaks on tour. You'd be able to walk faster," snickered Shaggy.

"Fuck you Shaggs! I don't see you walking any faster!"

"Cause I don't want you to feel like you're a fat piece of shit!"

Ash simply shook his head and continued to walk through an area of tents that seemed as if they where going on forever. Out of nowhere a fireball shot at him and would have taken Ash's head off had he not ducked upon hearing the sound of it coming towards him. Ash pulled himself up and saw several jugglers emerging from the tents. From another tent came several of the kung-fu zombie clowns but this time they where followed by several that had the same black sweater/sweatpants outfit and clown makeup but where at least eight feet tall and weighed at least 700 pounds. 

"Let's see if you guys can actually do something useful this time!" yelled Ash getting up only to have one of the skinny clowns grab the back of his head, knee him in the face several times. With each knee shot being more violent then than the previous and top it off by hip tossing him into the ground.

Ash managed to whip out his shotgun and blast two oncoming clowns back then drove the but end of it into the face of a juggler. Ash glanced to his left and saw two jugglers throw a barrage of fireballs and would have reacted instantly but before he could, one of the fat clowns locked him into a hemlock position type hold. The fireballs where a mere inch from Ash's face before they burst. Ash also felt the grip the fat clown was having on him weaken enough for Ash to break free and see Violent J throwing an endless series of hatchets into the fat clown. 

Ash grinned and jerked his chain saw arm turning it on. He saw Shaggy taking care of the two jugglers and then heard someone running towards him and without even turning around spun his chain saw arm back and heard it cut through flesh. He finally looked down and saw that he had taken care of two more skinny clowns. He also saw their numbers where thinning. Ash breathed in several times and attacked the nearest clown zombie which happened to be the last of the fat clowns. He raised his shotgun to head level and fired. The blast nearly destroyed its face but did little to deter it. Frustrated, Ash tried to drive his chain saw into the obese belly of the clown but it was in vain as his arm was now stuck inside the clowns stomach.

Roaring with hideous laughter, the fat clown wrapped his hands around Ash's head which where also as fat as the rest of him right down to the fingernails. Still laughing in triumph, the clown opened its mouth and lowered it down towards Ash's head. Ash tried in desperation to pull his arm out but the fat held it firmly inside. Ash continued to struggle even when he felt the clown swallow him down to his torso. Ash's struggles where also growing weaker and weaker until he finally relinquished his attempt to get out for less than a moment and the clown had him. He reached down and grabbed Ash's legs, tipped him up and dropped him inside his mouth.

Ash's first instinct was to turn on his chain saw but found that he was so tightly cramped inside it was impossible. He was still able to move his left hand around, but only a little and not enough to reach over and turn on his chain saw. He stretched his fingers down and felt his shotgun which must have gone down with him. He tried to move around a little more but was unable to. Feeling tired, Ash stretched his hand out as far as he could and grabbed the gun slid it up his hand enough so that he could clutch the trigger, aimed up and fired several times. 

After several shots, he felt everything around him tremor and felt a crash and realized he must have killed the clown. He also saw that he still was unable to lift his chain saw arm or reach over and turn it on. He swore under his breath as he came to the conclusion that he would have to ask ICP to help him. "Hey Clowns!"

"Yo Shaggs!"

Shaggy ended his victory dance over the mutilated corpses of the jugglers and clowns and stared at Violent J. "What?"

"You hear something?"

"Nah…I didn't hear anyth-"

"Yes you did!" snapped a muffled voice

"NOW I heard something." 

"Over here!"

J and Shaggy walked over to where they heard the voice and looked down to see the clown who bore several gaping holes in his stomach. J noticed Ash's head through the holes and burst out cackling. "Holy shit Ash! You got ate by one of the fat clowns!"

"Really?" asked Ash. "I hadn't noticed. I can't get to my chainsaw and the gun isn't doing much! Get one of the hatchets and cut me out of here!"

Violent J continued to cackle as he walked around the clown and kneeled down. "You're in a pretty bad spot huh?"

"I think he is," agreed Shaggy.

"Just cut me out of here!" yelled Ash who was growing more angry by the second.

"First off…as partner in this carnival we figure it's only right that we are given fair treatment."

"First off…" began Shaggy. "Ya muscle bound bitch we don't like you always pointing that ugly ass shotgun at us all the time."

"We also don't like you never appreciatin all the times we've saved yer ass."

"Like right now," agreed J. "We're just about to save you when we could just walk away and git us some _Faygo_."

"Ya know…I could go for some _Faygo_ right now," mused Shaggy.

"Not now," snapped J annoyed. "Tell ya what…we'll cut you out of the fat-ass clown if you say "ICP…not only do I love your music…but I love you and would not make it out of here alive had it not been for your tireless efforts at ensuring my sorry ass survival."

Shaggy was stunned, "Shit J…. Good choice of words."  
  
Violent J grinned, "I know…and they said a ninth grade edumacation wouldn't do shit for us. I kick so much ass."

Shaggy nodded in agreement, "Damn right…your hairs the shit too."

"Thanks Shaggs."

"WILL YOU TWO STOP COMPLIMENTING EACH OTHER AND GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!"

The clowns jumped and looked down at Ash who was still inside the fat clown. "Okay…okay damn man no fucking respect." Violent J snatched a hatchet away from a dead clown zombie and walked towards the fat clown, reached down and sliced from the waist up to the throat, reached in and pulled out Ash in one swipe. 

"Remember what you said about no respect?" asked Ash breathing hard.

"Yeah."

"Well here's my way of saying thanks for your swift response." Ash reached behind J's head and pulled him into Ash' s knee, driving it into J's stomach. He threw his gun into the holster on his back and turned to Shaggy. "You want some too?"

"N-no man….I'm jus fine," he ducked under Ash and picked up Violent J who was wheezing and coughing.

Ash rose his good arm and stretched it around, glad to be free. "Good…let's move on before some more of those zombie clowns and jugglers show up." He leaned his chain saw arm and continued on the same path with Shaggy pulling J along a moment later.


	4. Chapter Four

**__**

Chapter Four-The Ringmaster

"It's getting awfully dark," noticed Ash a couple of hours later. "I didn't think time had any meaning around here."

"Why the hell would that be?" asked Violent J who was finally able to speak

"I dunno."

"Anyway… yer kinda right. See the sun won't touch this place and darkness comes whenever it feels like it."

"Any idea where we are?"

"Yep."

"That's a first."

J glared at Ash as he walked alongside Shaggy. "We're in the part of dark carnival where the wicked go when the dark carnival gets a hold of em."

"Not just the wicked," reminded Ash.

"Guess not."

"Hey," interrupted Shaggy. "One of the tents is right ahead."

"Tents?" Ash stopped and stared soon in horror as he saw a small line of people slowly moving into a tent and at the end of it standing over the rapidly decreasing line with a sneer on his face. 

"Come on," Ash grabbed both of the clowns and pulled them behind a nearby tent. He glanced behind the tent then turned back to ICP. "We need to save those people. Got any-"

"No! I'm not going in there!" cried a weak voice. Ash stopped talking and looked from behind the tent to see that there was only one person left a young girl who was struggling against the clown who was standing at the doorway. She kicked him into the tent, turned, and ran with everything she had. The monster of a man who had been at the end of the line watched the girl run for a moment then raised his left arm which had a cannon like device in the place of an arm. In the center of it was a long incredibly thick whip that appeared to be made of the finest leather with small sharp spikes covered around the edge of it. He laughed and several smaller whips shot out of his arm and singled in on the girl. One wrapped around her legs, another around her waist and the third around her throat. He pulled his arm back and the girl was dragged along until she was at the feet of the monster. 

The girl continued to struggle even when he pulled her up and held her upside down, staring into her eyes through his which where barely noticeable with the black top hat planted firmly on his head. "My…my what a lucky little girl YOU are. Not too many get to be sent to their death from the ringmaster himself these days. You should consider yourself very lu-" his words where cut off as a bullet whirred through the air and cut through all the whips sending the girl crashing to the ground and what was left of the whips to recoil away back into the arm they came from. "What the hell was that?!" cried Ringmaster.

"Yo whip boy…back here." Ringmaster turned around and saw Ash with his shotgun raised. Ash fired again and this time the bullet went into the chest of the Ringmaster who shot out the massive middle whip in his arm, cracked it and shot it at Ash who jumped away but didn't expect the whip to follow him, smack him in the face and wrap around his throat. Ash shot his chain saw up and sliced the whip off then pulled what was around his throat off. Ringmaster laughed and a moment later the whip regenerated itself. He aimed his cannon arm and shot the whip at Ash again this time Ash smacked it away with his chain saw slicing it in half and in the moment he had a clear shot unloaded eight shotgun blasts causing Ringmaster to fall to the ground with a dull thud. 

Ringmaster tried to pull himself up but before he could, Ash had a foot on his chest. "You'll never escape the Dark Carnival!" he cried, as Ash aimed his shotgun at his face, "Never! Never! He'll swallow your soul before you get out!"

Ash grinned, "Watch me," with that he fired six shots into the Ringmasters face, spun his shotgun around and deposited it into the holster on his back.

"Where the hell are those two morons now?" asked Ash aloud. He stopped as he heard some talking and walked over to where a tent which was where he could hear one of the voices. He stepped behind the tent and saw ICP talking to the girl Ash had saved only to Ash it looked more like they where trying to pick her up. Ash shook his head and walked over to them. 

"So baby ya into ICP?" asked Violent J.

"A little," replied the girl weakly. "Could you just tell me where I am?"

"All in due time baby," grinned Shaggy. "All in due-"

"Having fun?" interrupted Ash loudly.

Both Violent J and Shaggy yelped and bolted around to see Ash with a small cut on his lip and a couple of bruises on his face. "Y-you killed The Ringmaster!"

"Yes. What's the big deal? It was one of the easiest fights I've ever been in."

"It's just…that bitch is like 700 years old and no ones ever been able to even touch him let alone KILL him!"

"That's pretty sad," he turned to the girl, "So what's your name?"

"Sarah…Sarah Givings. Yours?"

"Names Ash."

"Where are we?" asked Sarah for the second time. One minute I was at a club in Jersey with this guy and the next minute I'm being marched into this tent!"

"You're in a place called the Dark Carnival," replied Ash.

"Like in these guys songs?"

"Pretty much."

"Oh god…how will I get out of here?"

"Don't worry," assured Ash. "I'll get you out of here. I better go see if anyone who went into that tent is still alive."

"Trust me man," said J. "Ain't no one in there that's still alive."

"I'll be the judge of that," snapped Ash. "Watch her I'll be back in a second."

"Ya sure ya wanna check?"

"Positive." Ash leaned his chain saw arm against his shoulder and walked from behind the tent to the entrance. "I'm sure he was exaggerating." With that Ash took a deep breath and walked inside.

**__**

Eight seconds later…

"I think I'm going to be sick," mumbled Ash walking out and going back to where ICP and Sarah where.

"Have fun?" asked Shaggy.

"Let's get going," was all Ash would say.


	5. Chapter Five

**__**

Chapter Five-Afterthought

"NOW can we go kill those fucks?" asked Jake Jeckel.

"Yeah…come on Butterfly…he killed Ringmaster…this guys tougher then we thought," concurred Jack.

The Butterfly glanced back at them with a look of incredible disdain on his face. "I am aware of just how strong ICP are."

"We meant that other guy…what's his name Jake?"

"Ash," Answered Jack. 

Butterfly's face resumed the curled sneer it held before, "As for Ash…I'm still not worried at this point…Ringmaster was getting on his years anyway wouldn't you agree?"

Both of the Jeckel brother laughed, "Yeah…the old bastard was getting on my nerves anyway. So what do we do now?"

"At this point," began Butterfly in a slow tone, "They should be entering the part of the carnival ran by Milenko…what's say we allow him to handle it. "

"Good idea Butterfly," they both said at the same time.

"Perhaps…we should put in our own two cents and held Milenko a bit…with poppies!" he paused to laugh.

"Oh boy…" muttered Jake to Jack.

"Take the guy to see _Wizard of Oz _and pay for it the rest of eternity," replied Jack. "We better speak up before he wants to use those damn winged monkeys."

"Good idea," agreed Jake.

"That's a kick ass idea Butterfly!" they both agreed. "Those dumb fucks won't know what hit em!"

"Of course not…poppies have always worked on those stupid enough to dare attempt escape from my dark carnival!" he walked over to the TV screen they where on and watched them with a manic gleam in his eyes. "Yes…poppies…poppies will make them sleep." He paused once again to throw his head back and laugh.


	6. Chapter Six

**__**

Chapter Six-Damn dirty poppies

"Have you guys noticed there's fewer and fewer tents as we go along?" asked Ash to ICP.

"Yeah…there's parts of tha carnival that are like that. Nothin to worry about."

"One more thing," continued Ash.

"Yeah?"

"Stop hitting on Sarah."

"Only if she wants us to," grinned Shaggy. "A lotta ladies can't get enough of that clown lo-"

"Believe me I want you to stop too," interrupted Sarah.

"Really?" asked Violent J in a sad tone.

"Really. I like some of your songs but I don't like you personally and I'm sure as hell not sleeping with you."

"But we saved you!" reasoned Shaggy.

"Ash saved me if I remember right."

"This…is so fucking whack," muttered J.

"Totally," agreed Shaggy.

"What's with all these flowers…?" asked Ash.

"What flowers?" Violent J looked down to see that they where surrounded by poppies.

"Holy shit!" screamed Shaggy.

"That bastard's using poppies! Poppies!'

"What's with them?" questioned Sarah to Ash.

"I have no idea…" he sighed. "They're poppies…so?"

"Ain't you ever seen the _Wizard of Oz?!_"

"Yeah…when I was four. Stupid movie if I remember."

"Well see…Butterfly saw it back in the 30's and thought it was the greatest thing he had ever seen so he borrowed all this crazy stuff from it like poppies and winged monkies. He even got to nail that girl from the movie once…it was at a party in the 40's…what was her name…damn…ya think after hearing this story I'd have burned into my damn brain or some shit…"

"Judy Garland?" suggested Sarah.

"Yeah! That's her. So anyways we better get the hell outta here…b..e..f..ore..we…fa.lls..asleee….p…." J barely managed to finish his sentence before crashing softly into the field of poppies. Shaggy joined him a moment later.

"Only these guys would be stupid enough to go into a long explanation when we're in a field of things that," he paused to yawn. "Make you fall asleep."

"Y…eah…," agreed Sarah. "How…c..ould…any," yawn. "one be so stupidddddd?" she tried to make her way though the poppies but only made it a couple steps and fell into the arms of Ash who was holding on but fading fast.

"Guess…it's…up…to me to get everyone..o…u..t…o..f..he..r..e…" Ash was a mere four steps away from being out of the poppy seeds but fell backwards with Sarah on top of him from holding him.


	7. Chapter Seven

**__**

Chapter seven-The palace of the Great Milenko

"I thought it's been awhile since I've woken up in a dungeon with an immense headache," mused Ash looking around to see he was in a jail cell. His gun and chain saw were no where to be found. He sat up and saw that there where no bars on this cell. "This is too could to be true," he thought. "Only a complete moron wouldn't try and take advantage of a great chance like this," he stood up right and walked over to where the cell bars should have been. He took a deep breath and stepped forward and immediately felt a thousand volts of electricity shoot through every part of his body. He pulled himself out and flew back crashing into the wall. "See? Only an idiot." Ash was in the stages of trying to regain his footing when he heard long mangled laughter echoing from down the hall. This gave Ash proper incentive to get up and walk over again this time, craning his neck so that he could see somewhat down the hall without touching the invisible barrier. 

What he saw was a man who looked to be a cross between The Ringmaster and The Butterfly. He wore a top hat on his head that showed no hair and wore a faint amount of clown make up on his face. He was dressed in an outfit similar to what a sleazy 50's magician would wear. "So you're the one who killed Ringmaster eh? What's your name? Ash is it?"

"Maybe."

"In any case… I am The Great Milenko. I'm glad the son of a bitch is dead so you've got my thanks if that means anything to you at all."

"Not really…nice thing to say about your brother."

Milenko chortled, "Brother? How did you think that?"

"Your both ugly as hell."

Milenko laughed even louder at that comment, "My…Butterfly wasn't kidding when he told me that you where the sharp wit. I question whether you're as strong as he claims though."

"Why?" 

"Well defeating a broken down, worn out relic like The Ringmaster does not impress me much. Especially considering how much of his power he was using just to keep himself together."

"Enough of this pleasant crap…where are my…" Ash paused for a moment, "companions and what do you plan to do with me?"

"Your friends are in another part of my fortress and as for your fate…I was ordered by The Butterfly to kill you within the hour but…I couldn't live with myself until I've had my turn tearing you apart. With that in mind I've got a little deal for you."

"Which would be?"

"We're going to have a little 'fight' and if I win then you die and if you win then…you die…but if you win I'll make your death as painless as possible."

"Sounds like a win-win situation to me," replied Ash. "Let's go."

"Very well…" He reached into his vest and pulled out a wand that looked so utterly pathetic Ash could not help but snicker.

Milenko noticed this and his expression turned to one that was very dark. "You laugh now…but we'll see in a moment." He raised his wand in the air and brought it down and Ash felt himself being pulled out of his body with violent force. The pain was so sudden and great that Ash shut his eyes and when he opened them he saw that he was in a vast chamber. The ground felt solid but everything around him resembled the inside of a circus tent.

"Over here muscle-head," came Great Milenko who now had a far meaner expression to match the darker face. He swirled his magic wand left to right and in a flash Ash had his chain saw attached to his left hand and his shotgun in the holster on his back. "Now," he asked smiling. "Are you ready to die and have your soul sucked into the Dark Carnival?"

Ash gave a small smirk as he started up his chain saw, "Ready when you are magic boy."

Milenko sneered and moved his wand to the right and in a flash he disappeared. Ash saw that he was shooting all around him at a blinding speed. Ash tried to keep up and was able to at first but it proved futile and before Ash could do anything, Milenko appeared in front of him and leveled him with an uppercut. Ash quickly rose to his feet and saw Milenko leering nearby. Ash pulled out his shotgun and fired off several rounds. "Eat lead."

Despite the four bullets whirring towards him, Milenko showed no sign of fear. "Rather not," he raised is hand with the wand and stopped the bullets dead in their tracks. "Let's see how you like this!" he waved the wand slightly and the bullets turned into four gloves which spun around and blasted towards Ash meeting him fist on. Three of the gloves hit his chest and head but the fourth hi him directly in the crotch. Ash was about to fall to his knees but was clutched in the throat by Milenko who threw him towards the wall but waved his wand before Ash hit the wall and when Ash did hit the wall a hand emerged from the wall and slapped Ash in the face. Another hand appeared and paint-brush slapped him and a third appeared and attempted to drive two fingers into his eyes but Ash had enough sense to put hi hand between his eyes and block it. "Ha! Serves you-" Ash's words where cut off as the hand grabbed his tongue, pulled it out as far as it would go and let it go. The tongue snapped back and sent Ash flying back and crashing to the ground where he could hear the cold cackle of the Great Milenko ringing in his ears. "I think the game is over." He waved his wand a piece of the wall tore off and Ash could tell from where they were that it was a great deal up.

Milenko grabbed Ash by the throat and lifted him up. Ash felt paralyzed in the grip of Milenko. "I think I shall kill you by my own hands rather than using my magic."

"Whatever rocks your-urk!" Ash's witty retort was abruptly ended as Milenko squeezed his throat harder to cut him off and walked over to where he had created the hole in the wall. He was getting closer and closer to the edge. Ash thought he was done for sure when he heard a familiar laugh and for the first time ever he was very glad to hear it.

"Huh?" Milenko turned around and saw ICP standing with Sarah. 

J grinned, "Milenko…you old bastard yer lookin worse every time I see you!"

"Violent J…Shaggy 2 Dope…you're looking trashier by the day also," he noticed the girl. "And who's this? Another of your three cent backstage sluts perhaps?"

"Hey!" cried Sarah. "I am NOT some cheap backstage slut!"

"Of course not," replied Milenko in a condescending tone. He returned his attention to ICP. "So…I see you where able to escape. I should have guessed as much really considering how often your lazy asses where hanging around here. Tell you what, despite what Butterfly says and wants me to do we do go back a long ways so if you leave now…" he looked again at Sarah. "And leave the girl I promise to let you get out of my section of the Dark Carnival."

"That's a pretty good offer," mused J. Ash was finally up and reached for his shotgun but Milenko noticed this and blasted him with the wand. "Tell ya what…you take that offer…"

"Yes?"

"And shove it up yer ass!" J burst out laughing as did Shaggy. Sarah rolled her eyes.

Milenko frowned, "A pity…ah well your choice." He rose his magic wand and aimed it directly at ICP. "Goodbye clowns."

"You ain't doin shit to us!" boasted Shaggy.

"Oh? And what makes you so sure?"

"This!" replied J pulling out a playing card out of his shirt and holding it in the air as if it where the Stanley Cup. "Remember this?"

"Indeed I do."

"THIS is the jokers card which controls YOUR life force!"

"That's what happens when ya drink took much of ICP's special _Faygo_!" said Shaggy.

"Well then," said Milenko turning completely away from Ash and folding his arms. "Do what you have to do."

"Damn right!" J held the jokers card in the air and in one swift movement of his hands tore the card in two. J threw the torn card to the ground and stared at Milenko, expecting him to do something like turn into dust or explode. When nothing happened a sudden terrified anxiety came over J. "Wha-wha what the fuck happened?! You're supposed to be dead!"

Milenko sneered, "You didn't think I was stupid enough to actually let you HAVE the card that controls my life force did you?"

"Well…yeah."

"I'm going to enjoy this a great deal. No more interruptions now…" he slowly raised the arm holding the wand and aimed it at ICP.

"Hey Milenko," came a smug voice. "Behind you."

Great Milenko once again took his attention off ICP and turned to see Ash with his shotgun dead on with Milenko. Before Milenko could do anything, Ash blasted his hand off sending the wand flying to the ground. Great Milenko clutched the bloody stump where his hand used to be and looked up into the collected face of Ash with horror in his eyes. "No! I-"

"No more talking for you." Ash pulled the trigger and began firing off round after round. Milenko took every bullet and stumbled farther back with each shot until he fell out through the hole in the wall he had created earlier. Ash walked over to watch him fall and at that moment got a better idea of how far up they where as Milenko was still falling and finally disappeared from view. Ash turned back to ICP. "Is there any chance he'll survive that fall?"

"Nah…without the wand he's just some weak ass old man. He's dead."

"Anyone have an idea as to how we're going to get back down when we're god knows how many stories up?" asked Sarah. Sarah shook her head and sighed when no response came from anyone. She looked down at the wand. "Why don't we-"

"Use the wand?" asked Ash the moment it hit him.

"No actually I was going to ask if we can all have hot group sex."

"Really?' asked both members of ICP in hopeful unison.

"No."

"Awwww."

Ash ignored all of them and picked up the wand studying it carefully. "So, how do I get this thing to work?"

"It responds to yer thoughts."

"Oh…" Ash held up the wand and as soon as he tried to translate a thought into the wand, it crackled and promptly exploded.

"I forget… why the hell do I listen to you stupid clowns?" asked Ash walking down the first of 4000 flights of stairs.

"Cause we're smart!" replied Shaggy as if it was a blatant and undeniable fact.

"Right…how stupid of me," Ash rolled his eyes and began the second set of stairs.

"Are you SURE there isn't an elevator in this entire palace?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah…that was one of Milenko's strategies…by the time they made it up the stairs they'd be too tired to fight and they'd be easy pickins for Milenko."

"What a strategist."

"Wait a minute!" cried Violent J. "I've got something that'll make this lame ass walk down the stairs a thousand times better!"

"I can hardly contain myself," muttered Ash.

**__**

At the bottom of the stairs several hours later…

"I guess I have to admire his endurance," commented Sarah to Ash.

Ash watched Violent J wearily. "Or not."

Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope as well for that matter would have heard Ash and Sarah had they not been deeply absorbed in the slinky J had introduced as a way to make the "lame ass walk down the stairs a thousand times better. "Everyone loves a slinky!" sang Violent J horribly off key.

"You gotta get your slinky!" piped in Shaggy also off key.

"Slinky!"

"Slinky!"

"You gotta get a-" he stood back and paused with Shaggy for the big finish the second before the slinky completed its journey. 

"SLINNNKKKKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!"

ICP looked down and waited for the slinky to finish it's mystical journey but to their intense frustration and anger it stopped on the last step and did not go any farther. 

"Son of a bitch!!!" screamed Shaggy. "Slinky's dead!" The look on his face was of a child that looked to be on the verge of either a temper tantrum or a crying fit.

Violent J appeared to be sharing Shaggy's anger but handled the threat with a much calmer demeanor. "Oh well…let's just go again." J reached down to pick up the slinky but jumped back when a bullet blasted it into a million much smaller and quite useless slinkys.

"Let's not and say we did," replied Ash spinning his shotgun around and putting it back into the holster behind his back. "Let's move on."

"Sounds good to me," agreed Sarah following Ash to the exit of the late Great Milenko's palace.

"Kill joy," grumbled J trailing behind with Shaggy.


	8. Chapter Eight

**__**

Chapter Eight-Growing concern

"Damn…" remarked Jake Jeckel. "I don't believe it."

"Me neither…they actually killed Great Milenko," said Jack shaking his head. "Well…we better go down there and take care of em…right Butterfly?"

"You forget…there's still The Riddlebox…"

"Yeah…but we can't risk it! He's cutting down every member of the jokers cards like there's no tomorrow. We can't play with this guy anymore!"

"I will make the executive decisions around here Jake. I assure you those four are within my hands and I can finish them at any moment." Both of the Jeckel brothers where tempted to ask why he hadn't just gone and done it but kept their mouths shut and knew the answer he would give anyway. "For now I am still content to play with them and wear them down…so that if they DO make it to us they'll put up little struggle. As for Milenko and Ringmaster you must remember that they where old and dragging down the carnival. If Riddlebox meets the same fate then so be it. Obviously you are eager to take them down but I suggest we give Riddlebox a chance and if he fails then you shall have your wish."

"Thank you Butterfly," they both said at the same time.

Butterfly paced back to one of the TV monitors and leaned down staring at it intently. He watched Ash walking along with Sarah and ICP and scowled. Riddlebox was the last thing holding them back from getting to him and the time would come when he would have to stare down the man he had originally believed to be nothing more then pond scum level human trash. He thought about the potential battle and while he wasn't outright dreading it, little by little he was starting to hope a final battle between himself and the one called Ash wouldn't come to fruition. 


	9. Chapter Nine

**__**

Chapter nine-The Riddlebox

"Ashhhhh," we've been walking for like twenty hours!" whined Sarah.

"Actually it's been twenty minutes," replied Ash walking ahead of everyone else balancing his chain saw on his shoulder. "And quite frankly I'm not resting until we reach the-" Ash stopped as if a sudden realization came over him. "Come to think of it…" he turned to Violent J. "How much farther ARE we going to have to walk before we get the hell out of here?"

"Well um…lesse…we gots…um…" Violent J looked down and began stammering.

Shaggy leaned over, "Just make sure ya don't tell him the only way out is to either kill The Butterfly or get his permission."

Violent J slowly rose and with eyes that matched a super deformed Japanese animation character looked at Shaggy then wound back and punched him to the ground. J turned from Shaggy who was already pulling himself up to Ash's whose eyes resumed their nervous twitch from earlier. "Is that true J?"

"Man…" commented Shaggy now on his feet, "It's a good thing you hit like a bi

-" J cut Shaggy off by punching him in the jaw again. J looked into the angry eyes of Ash and at that moment was feeling very small. 

"So…" began Ash in a too-calm-for-comfort tone, "You're saying, that in order to get out of this stupid carnival, we are going to have to destroy one of the most powerful beings in the world?"

"In a nutshell…yeah. But come on man! I saw _Army of Darkness_ I know this shit ain't nothing new to you?"

Ash was about to respond but was cut off by a dry, cracked scream that was more like a screech after a minute. Ash, ICP, and Sarah all turned to see a single clown zombie charging towards them carrying a box. _Just one?_ Thought Ash who started his chain saw up and when the zombie clown was within range Ash ducked under him and clotheslined him with the chain saw decapitating his head off in a flurry of blood. Ash whipped his shotgun out and gunned down the headless body. 

Violent J caught the severed head and looked at it then turned to Shaggy. "Who's up for kick ball?"

"Me!" said Shaggy running back a few feet.

Sarah folded her arms and looked at J with disgust. "No thanks."

"Suit yerself," sighed J kicking the head to Shaggy who kicked it back and soon the two had the head going back and forth. Sarah walked over to Ash who was studying the box the clown had dropped. 

"So what the hell is that thing?" asked Sarah kneeling down to look at the box with Ash.

"No idea," he answered. Ash moved the ominous box around in his hands when suddenly the box became so hot so quickly that Ash dropped it and stood back. "What the hell?" Ash and Sarah fell silent as a slower and darker version of _Pop goes the weasel_ began to fill the air. 

"Ahhhhh!!!"

"Huh?" Ash and Sarah turned around to see ICP who had stopped their game of kick ball and where looking at the music playing box with a look of pure horror. "What's with you two?"

"I-it's Riddlebox!" screamed Shaggy.

"Who?"

"Riddlebox…" said Sarah slowly. "Wasn't that the title of one of your albums?"

Shaggy's fear seemed to melt as he turned to Sarah, "Did you like it?"

Before Sarah could answer the music stopped and everyone returned their attention to the box. Ash noticed both members of ICP where backing up. "I think," began J. "We should back the fuck up,"

"Why?"

Ash's question was answered without words as the box exploded sending everyone flying back. The four pulled themselves up and looked into the smoke which disappeared in moments to reveal a giant clown faced three headed hydra. Ash stared in open-mouthed shock while the head in the middle flicked its tongue at the group. "How unfortunate for you…you have happened to chose the most powerful of The Riddlebox's most powerful forms!" At that point Ash also saw that the face's of the hydra while painted with evil clown makeup had a distinct woman like look to them. Ash turned on his chain saw and stood back his other arm ready to grab his shotgun at the first sign of an advancing threat.

"Let's go," 

The Riddlebox all hissed and the middle charged. Ash was more than ready and jumped forward uppercutting the head with his chain saw, creating a massive, deep cut up it's face and taking out one of it's upper fangs. Ash turned and saw ICP taking Sarah away and knew he wouldn't see any of them for the remainder of this battle. Ash saw The Riddlebox try to hit him with it's tail and jumped over it. He didn't count on a smaller tail to come out of nowhere and smack him in the face, before Ash could fall to the ground the snake head on the left smashed into his stomach lifted him up in the air and dropped him into a circus tent. Ash pulled out his shotgun as the head tried to make another round but Ash was able to shoot her in the face several times then turned on his chain saw and drove it into the middle of the head. The clown head roared and tried to break free but to no avail. Ash looked to his left and to his shock actually saw ICP battling the other two heads. Ash finally pulled the chain saw out and whipped out his shotgun again and fired several shots into where the huge chain saw cut had been.

"Son of a bitch!" cried Shaggy as the middle head sent him crashing to the ground. Shaggy looked up to see the head coming down with it's fangs aimed at him and rolled out of the way pulling out a hatchet and throwing it into the heads mouth as he jumped up. The middle head of the Riddlebox hydra didn't react fast enough to spit it out and swallowed the hatchet, roaring and swayed herself back and forth. Shaggy could actually hear the hatchet slicing up her insides and grinned, "How do ya like my magic hatchet? Just the kind of thing that gives bitches like you an ass kicking." The head opened it's mouth to roar but instead blood poured out much of bathing Shaggy. The hatchet shot out and landed in Shaggy's hand who stood back and watched as the head made one more weak roar an fell to the ground. "Fuck yeah! We got one!"

"Guess pigs can fly after all," thought Ash dodging yet another lunge from the creature and kicking it in the left temple. Ash saw that the neck was thinner and would be easier to cut through. The only problem was that he had no opening what so ever. He would have to rely on Shaggy who no longer had a clown head to fight to help him out. "Skinny clown! Get over here!"

Shaggy was about to get into it but stopped as he heard J scream and turned to see that the second of the surviving Riddlebox heads had Violent J's waist and below in it's mouth and was slamming him up and down each time harder than the last. "Hmm…should I help my childhood hommie or some guy who aint done nothin but gimmie shit." Shaggy stood amidst the chaos oblivious to the chaotic battle around him as he went over his two options in his mind. Eleven seconds later he pulled out his hatchet and charged at the hydra head attempting to devour J.

Ash cursed under his breath and knew he'd have to come up with something else. A solid plan B came to him almost immediately and he stood back and waited for the head to lunge again but this time jumped forward and fired off several shotgun rounds into it's eyes. Ash was now ready to put the final part of his battle plan into affect but stopped when he felt something pierce through the arm that held his good hand. "What the?" he looked down to see something that was attached to the creatures tongue and had driven into his skin. Ash screamed and sliced it off with his chain saw and nearly lost footing. The thing attached to the tongue which resembled a scorpions stinger. Ash regained his bearings in moments and with the head still blinded Ash jumped behind it saw the thin neck holding the head and turned his chain saw back on laughing and slicing through the skin of the neck. The head fell to the ground with a dull thud and the neck that had held the head fell softly into the grass. Ash felt a growing pain in where the hydra head had attacked him but ignored it when he saw ICP on the verge of death, Shaggy wrapped around the tail and J sinking farther into it's mouth. Ash also saw Sarah trying to hit it with a tree branch. Ash saw his opening and knew exactly what to do. Tossing his shotgun into his back and jogged over with his chain saw still on.

"Let me the fuck go you ugly bitch snake!" screamed Shaggy trying to free himself a feat that would be considered impossible given the immense thickness of the Riddlebox's main tail.

Ash ran to the back where the head was attached to the neck, jumped up, and sliced the head off and unloaded several rounds from his shotgun into the head as it fell for good measure. "Ash-2, Snake-0." Ash covered in blood and torn up watched as Shaggy freed himself from the tail and Violent J slipped out of the oral death grip the head had previously had on him. He looked and watched the body of the hydra recoiling and Ash saw that it was making its way back into the box. 

"You gotta take out that box before it reforms itself!" cried J breathing heavy.

"I got it," Ash calmly walked over to the box long before the body ever made it and turned on his chain saw. He smiled and lowered it towards the box slicing it in half, the dividing it into four pieces and finally blasting each of the four pieces into nothing. "That it? Won't it just mold itself back together?"

"Nope…not how bad you shot the fuck outta it anyway," J raised a hand to Ash and gave an evil grin. Ash looked at him for a moment then raised his hand and high fived J. "Now you're a juggalo!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Violent J was joined by Shaggy and Sarah and looked to be about to say something when he saw the red hole on Ash's arm and gasped. "Holy shit! Shit! I can't believe this!"

"What?" Ash looked down at the hole, "This? One of those damn Riddlebox heads gave it to me."

"Fuck man!" exclaimed Shaggy. "He don't know what he got from that snake-bitch!"

Ash was starting to get annoyed, "What the hell happened to me?"

"The Riddlebox drove a stinger into you…inside of it is this poison which eats away at you till you just POW! Fall to fuckin pieces!"

"Wonderful…is there an antidote?"

"Well kinda there IS something that will take out that dead feeling but it will only hold back the poison for a few hours. There's only one way to destroy the poison is to destroy the person who created it. Or get him to take it out of ya."

"But that was Riddlebox…and we destroyed that."

"Yeah…but who made Riddlebox and made the poison by makin her?"

Ash lowered his head and sighed, "Butterfly."

"Bingo, lucky for you we're near a store…least I think there's one around here," J turned to Shaggy. "Is there?"

Shaggy shrugged his shoulders.

"Well…I'm pretty sure there's one round here so we'll find it. Let's go."

The pain in Ash's hand was growing worse and he could swear he was getting more fatigued by the moment but he nodded and the four once again began walking.


	10. Chapter Ten

**__**

Chapter ten-The Time to hesitate is through

"M-master Butterfly…" Butterfly and the Jeckel Brothers looked to the entrance to the room to see the Great Milenko standing before them. He was horribly bloody and his clothes where too torn and tattered to qualify as something wearable.

"Holy shit Milenko!" exclaimed Jack. "How the hell you survive that fall?"

"It took…e-everything I had to do it."

Butterfly watched Milenko thoughtfully for a moment then stood up and walked over to the shell of a man before him. "I'm amazed to see your still alive…looks like you posses a quality that your late jokers card lacked."

"Thank you," replied Milenko his voice growing weaker and more strained by the moment.

"But still…you went against my order to kill them on sight and by doing so threw you into an unfavorable light. Your weakening and quite pathetic condition has done little more then seal your fate. It's been nice knowing you."

"But I-ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!" Milenko's voice returned to it's full extent long enough for him to cry out in agony as Butterfly placed a hand on his shoulder and blue lightening began swirling all around him. After a minute Butterfly lifted his hand up and stood back as Milenko fell to the ground and crumbled into dust on impact.

**__**

"Given what we have just seen I now believe more than ever that we can not afford to simply let them wander the carnival," said Butterfly facing Jake and Jack Jeckel. "We've got Ash at our mercy and they are indeed near a store. I want you two to lead a nice little ambush for them. Bring along as many men as you see fit. I don't want them killed though…simply bring them here. I'd like to kill Ash and ICP myself especially Ash."  


"What about the girl?" asked Jake cracking his knuckles.

"Do whatever you want to here." The Butterfly gave an eerie smile. "I'm sure you have a good imagination on how to handle a young girl."

"I think we can handle it," Jake turned to Jack. "How bout it Jack?"

"Hell yeah,"

"Don't return without them," warned the Butterfly his eyes turning serious.

"No problem."  


"Piece-o-fucking cake!" the two turned and walked out the door. Butterfly watched them walk away and stood up throwing some punches in the air and muttering _Somewhere over the rainbow_.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**__**

Chapter eleven-Seizure

"Did I tell ya? Did I fuckin tell ya?"

"You told us," said Sarah rolling her eyes. "We don't need to be reminded every time you're right."

"But it don't happen very often."

"I know. Thank god."

Ash stopped as they came to the store and his jaw dropped, "_S-Mart_?! There's an _S-mart_ here?!"

"Yeah so?"

"What the hell is it doing here? What's the need for a superstore in the middle of a demonic carnival anyway?"

"See…we bought this chain of lame ass stores-"

"YOU BOUGHT _S-MART?!_ I'M WORKING FOR **YOU** NOW?!**"**

"You work there?"

"Yeah…"

"Not anymore!" J threw his head back and laughed. Shaggy joined in the laughter and Sarah only shook her head.

"I can't believe this…"

"Anyway…we bought the chain for like forty bucks cause no one ever went there and the bitch-boys who owned it where like really desperate to sell it so it was a steal. It was gonna be like just a place for the people the Dark Carnival where gonna recruit. We stocked it with all this weird shit too.

"Like the antidote?"

"Yeah…"

Ash sighed, the pain in his arm made it almost impossible to move that arm and his eyes where growing heavier by the moment. "Let's just get in there and find it so we can go."  


"Sounds good to me."

"Do you know where it is?" he asked as they walked inside. They stopped walking when they saw that there where clown zombies behind every counter wearing _S-Mart_ shirts and black pants. They all reacted immediately, Ash pulled out his shotgun and turned to J. "Go find the antidote! I've got these guys."

"Gotcha yo," J turned and disappeared down an aisle. Ash felt everything sharpen into focus as he tried to reach up and grab his shotgun but a horrible numbing pain shot through his body. Ash clenched his eyes shut and fell to his knee's. Ash finally managed to put everything he had in and pull out his shotgun but every time he pulled the trigger it felt as if he was being struck with 1000 needles in every place of his body. 

Ash managed to shot nearly everyone in the head while Shaggy took care of the rest. When he gunned down the last of them he nearly fell to the ground. His head was pounding and he was finding it harder and harder to breathe. "Where…the hell-"

"I'm back…I'm back damn man…here. Drink up," J handed Ash a small bottle and Ash managed to hold it in his hand and tip the entire contents into his mouth. Some of it dribbled down his chin. Ash tossed the bottle aside immediately feeling his strength and the feeling in his arm returning. He stood up and took several deep breaths and turned to the others. "Okay, let's get out of-"

"Here? I wouldn't hold my breath," came a twisted voice. 

"What now?" Ash, Sarah, and ICP looked to the entrance to see Jake and Jack Jeckel slowly walking towards them. Jack grinned a cherishe cat like smile and raised his hands the fingers turning into knives.

"Shit! It's the Jeckel Brothers!" exclaimed Shaggy pulling out his magic hatchet.

"I was wonderin when the Butterfly was gonna send you guys after us!" growled J making smaller knives with his fingers. "Remember teachin me how to use THESE!"

Jake snickered, "Nice knives…I don't think we have a chance against you guys now. Well…we've been ordered to take you in. The Butterfly had decided to give you an audience."

"Lucky us," muttered Ash spinning his shotgun around in his finger. "Let's get it on."

"Feeling better are we? Well that wont last for long."

"We'll see," Ash said nothing more and charged at the Jeckel Brothers. He swung his chain saw arm and watched as Jake leaped over and landed in front of ICP punching Shaggy in the jaw, driving his knee into his throat and giving him one final punch which sent him flying into aisle five. J clicked his finger knives and leapt at Jack trading blows. Ash took advantage and fired off several rounds at Jake who smacked every single bullet away and jumped up and drop kicked Ash in the face. Jake picked Ash up bench pressed him with no effort and threw him across the store into the bike aisle.

J was managing to hold his own against Jack but was weakening more by the moment and knew he couldn't hold up much longer. Jack drove his finger knives across J's chest then grabbed his head and kneed him in the face and gave him one final punch which sent J falling to the ground. J tried to pull himself up but promptly collapsed and lay unmoving. 

"Gotta hide…gotta hide…gotta hide." Sarah ran down an aisle which had nothing but video games which where encased behind a thick glass case. 

Jack appeared in front of her and smiled. "You must be Sarah…"

"So what if I am?" growled Sarah.

Jack looked her up and down then stared into her eyes. "You're a little on the young side foe my tastes. Jake likes em about your age though. What are you? 18 19?"

"What the hell are you talking about you ugly bastard?"

Jack sneered, "You'll see." In the blink of an eye Jack grabbed Sarah and threw her with little strength into the glass casing shattering it all around her as she fell to the ground. Jack said nothing more only picking up Sarah throwing her onto his back and disappearing,

Shaggy tried to regain his footing but Jake came out of nowhere, shot straight down and finished Shaggy 2 Dope off by driving the edge of his knee into Shaggy's spine. Jake picked up Shaggy and leaped over to where Violent J's body lay and dropped it down on top of him. A moment later Jack Jeckel appeared and dropped Sarah onto the pile. "I see you took the easy prey," observed Jake.

"They where all easy prey," replied Jack.

"True enough…where's Ash?"

"Right here assholes!" Jack and Jake turned and saw Ash pop out of nowhere and begin firing off shotgun round after shotgun round. To Ash's horror every shot seemed to miss.

Jake yawned and turned to his brother, "You want to take this one?"

"May as well…why don't we work together. Aim above him and fire hard." Jake nodded and both of the Jeckel Brothers raised their left hands and unleashed a ball of fire towards the ceiling. Ash looked up but it was too late and the burning chunk of ceiling crashed onto him. 

Jake turned to Jack and feigned a look of shock; "It appears we have accidentally killed Ash."

"Oh no…Butterfly will be most displeased," replied Jack in a sarcastic tone.

"Don't worry…he was scared of him anyway though I can't see why. He'll thank us."

"Whatever…let's take these three and get back to the helicopter." Jack reached down and picked up Shaggy and Sarah.

"Helicopter?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "Yes Jake…a HELICOPTER… we can't teleport from here to Butterfly's place."

"Oh yeah….that's right." Jake grabbed Violent J and lifted his up by his hair.

"No more trying to do four eight balls at once for you." Jack shook his head and walked towards the entrance with Jake in tow.

The flames where quickly spreading from the pile of rubble that lay where Ash had been standing. The laughter of the Jeckel Brothers as they left the store was just now fading. The rubble looked as if it would remain there for years to come but instead it began to move. After a moment a hand emerged from the rubble, grabbed onto a shelf that was staring to catch fire and pull itself up. Ash threw a chunk of ceiling off his back and began coughing violently. Ash knew he had to move quickly and despite his whole body aching with pain he reached into the pile pulled out his shotgun and slid it into the holster on his back. "Not so fast clowns," growled Ash running towards the entrance and outside the store where the helicopter being piloted by a clown zombie was just taking off. Ash managed to leap up and grab the edge of the door. By then it was now well into the sky and heading west.

Jake saw this first and his eyes widened. He turned to his brother who was staring out the front. "We have a slight problem."

"What?" Jake pointed towards Ash who was pulling himself up but with great difficulty because of his chain saw. Jack's expression turned to that of intense anger, "I'll handle this," Jack reached up to blast Ash with another fireball. Ash held his chain saw arm against the wall and with his legs still dangling outside the helicopter, pulled out his shotgun and shot Jack several times, sending him crashing out the front window. As Jack went flying out the window he grabbed the clown zombie by the back of his head pulling him out with him but not before the clown zombie's hand hit the control causing it to aim slightly downwards causing the helicopter to slowly descend. The clown zombie fell straight off with little more then a gurgle but Jack grabbed the bottom of the helicopter and tried to pull himself back up. Ash finally made his way in and before Jake could react shot him several times in the chest stunning him long enough for Ash to slice him in half with his chain saw. The upper half went flying out of the helicopter. Ash knew they where dropping fast and threw his shotgun aside and grabbed the controls bringing them back up. Ash turned around and saw that Sarah and ICP still had not moved. Ash knew the helicopter was heading for Butterfly's place and decided to keep the copters path on the same route. "Looks like it'll be smooth sailing from here to Butterfly's," said Ash breathing hard. At that moment he felt a sharp pain in his chest and good arm. "I feel…like I did when that damn Riddlebox thing bit me…is that antidote wearing off already?"

"Fraid so?"

"Huh?" Ash pushed the pain into the back of his mind to see Jack now holding onto the frame of the windshield. Before Ash knew what hit him Jacks other arm shot out and clutched his throat. "You're going to see Butterfly all right. Only it's gonna be in a fucking body bag!" suddenly out of nowhere a hatchet flew past Ash and found a home permanently in the forehead of Jack Jeckel. Ash knew who the hatchet came from and reached up slicing Jack's arm off from the elbow to the fingertips. Ash threw the dismembered arm aside and watched as Jack disappeared and fell straight down into a tent marked _Warning bitchboys! Nine Inch Nails inside! _

"I've always wanted to fucking do that!" grinned Shaggy. As noticed Violent J was wounded but was getting to his feet, as was Sarah who had several small cuts on her face and arms. "You guys okay?"

"Peachy," muttered Sarah.

Ash returned to the controls and continued to steer for a couple minutes before the pain began to return and this time it felt like his insides where turning into liquid shit. J was holding the place on his chest where the cuts where and saw Ash with his eye's clenched tight in pain. "You okay?"

Ash opened his mouth to respond but all that came out was a violent series of coughs that caused blood to trickle out of his mouth. "The antidote is wearing off…" replied Ash finally.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Sarah.

"We're gonna head to the Butterfly's place and kick his ass all over this carnival!" growled Ash.

"But you're in no condition to fight him! He'll kill you!" pleaded Sarah.

"Let me worry about that," Ash turned back to the front of the helicopter and nearly gasped at the immense tower that lay before them. A combination of modern architecture and the gothic style of many centuries ago. The building looked out of place in the field that had several trees surrounding it and little else. Ash had noticed this early on, that there where no circus tents within a hundred yards of the tower. "You guys know a way to land?" asked Ash glancing over at ICP.

"Yeah ya go-"

"What's that?" interrupted Ash as if ICP hadn't said anything. "The only way to land is to go straight through the building? Well okay if you say so. Not sure if that's safe but oh well." Ash pulled the controllers up and everyone behind him fell back as the helicopter shot straight up and stopped when it was nearly at the top. Ash pulled the helicopter back and took a deep breath blasting towards the tower aiming for one of the large windows. The moment before the helicopter made contact with the tower. Ash surveyed the situation in his mind. He was slowly dying, his backup consisted of a girl and two severely injured rapping clowns, his chain saw was dangerously low on gas, and he had a slight headache. Other than that Ash was more than ready for the last battle with the master of the Dark Carnival, the Butterfly.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**__**

Chapter twelve-The Final Battle

Most of the helicopter was destroyed upon impact but thanks in part to the window crashed through the building and crashed again into a wall inside the building. The four emerged from the wreckage and looked around. To Ash's horror they where surrounded by at least a hundred kung fu clown zombies both skinny and fat armed with various sharp weapons. "Gee…I NEVER saw this coming," said Ash looking around to see they had crashed into a giant rec. room type area. Directly in front of them was an elevator that Ash knew would take him to Butterfly. Ash's arm was growing more numb by the minute but managed to pull out his shotgun, spin it around and hold it at his side. He turned to Violent J, "I'm going to get to that elevator because I know it'll get me to Butterfly…how do you kill him?"

"Ya gotta destroy his heart," replied J raising his fists due to the fact he was too weak to produce the finger knives. "Least that's what I been told."

"I'll go for that…you three are gonna have to hold these guys down while I get up to face Butterfly. Can you handle these primitive screw heads?"

"Sure yo…we got yer back…"

Ash turned on his chain saw and got into a battle stance trying to mentally shake off the pain that was coursing through him. "Groovy." Ash raised his chain saw arm and charged blindly swinging his chain saw arm round and firing in every direction taking out at least two dozen of the zombies by the time he reached the elevator door. Ash turned to the battle and saw that ICP and Sarah where already being overwhelmed and despite trying to reason otherwise he couldn't let them die like that. He looked at his shotgun and sighed "I can't believe I'm doing this," he lifted the shotgun into the air, holding it like a javelin. "J!" When Ash saw that he had J's attention he threw the shotgun which sailed through the air and landed in J's hands. Violent J put it to good use and began opening fire on everything that came near him, Shaggy 2 Dope and Sarah who held her own by smashing an oncoming clown zombie in the head with a piece of the helicopter rubble. His situation now worse then before Ash saw that the elevator had only one button, up. Ash hit the button and in seconds, the door opened and Ash stepped inside. Once again there was only one button inside and it only said B on it. Ash hit the button and the moment he did the door opened and Ash stepped out to find himself in a large office like area.

"Well…well..well…you've finally made it. I have to admit I didn't think you'd make it here." The sleek leather chair behind the desk in front of Ash spun around and from it emerged the Butterfly looking the same way Ash had seen him during the first time the two had fought. "I have to admit I'm shocked you have slain every member of the Jokers Cards and made it through this carnival. Though your situation is pretty bleak at the moment I can tell the venom inside you is tearing you apart and you should be dead within the hour. I don't see you with your trusty shotgun anymore and," he sniffed the air, "Your chain saw has a good three minutes left in it."

"Three minutes is all I'm gonna need to send you back to Ringling Brothers clown boy," replied Ash who knew everything Butterfly had said was true but still forced a smile.

Butterfly simply shook his head, "I almost feel guilty for how easy it's going to be to kill you." Before Ash could reply Butterfly disappeared and then reappeared behind Ash giving him a single vicious punch that sent him flying into the table across the office. As groaned and saw Butterfly leaning down to grab him but Ash was able to react quickly and reached to his left grabbing a sharp edged old fashioned pen and jamming it into Butterfly's right eye. Ash then kicked Butterfly away and leapt to his feet turning on his chain saw and swinging with all his might at Butterfly. In mid air however a pain hit Ash in the pit of his stomach that was so great his swing died long before it hit Butterfly. Butterfly sneered, "See what I mean? The venom is quite amazing isn't it? It's my own design!" with that he reached back and punched Ash into the wall and shot his arm out like a stretched clutching the chain saw and tearing it off of Ash. 

"Ahhhhh!!" Ash cried at the sudden pain and clutched the stump on where his hand used to be. The arm went back to Butterfly who tossed the chain saw to his other hand and drove the blunt end of it into Ash's stomach then came back up to hit him in the jaw. Butterfly wound back to do again but Ash sprung out and head but Butterfly causing him to drop the chain saw. Ash was now fighting off the sinking pain in his body and began punching Butterfly with everything he had then giving him a good uppercut which knocked Butterfly to the ground. Ash reached over to the table and grabbed a chunk of the table and swung as Butterfly who pointed at the piece of wood and stopped it in Ash's hands. He clenched his fist and it burst into flames. Ash dropped it abruptly and looked up but it was too late as Butterfly blasted Ash to the ground with a ball of energy then appeared in front of him and kicked him in the ribs three times as he tried to get up causing Ash to spit out several large globs of thick dark red blood. "Fucking pathetic," snarled Butterfly lifting up Ash by the throat and driving a knee into his gut.

__

I can't keep this up for much longer… thought Ash. _This damn virus is gonna kill me if this damn nut doesn't first_. Ash saw Butterfly trying to throw a fireball at him and dove out of the way. Butterfly appeared in front of him to try and get in a cheap shot but Ash saw it coming and uppercut Butterfly then stomped on his head and picked him up by the hair smashing his head into the wall. Ash seized the chance and went for his chain saw but stopped as it hovered up and went for him like a heat-seeking rocket. Ash ducked and turned around to see Butterfly holding the chain saw in his hand. Butterfly laughed and tossed the chain saw aside.

****

Meanwhile…

"I don't fuckin believe it," remarked Shaggy.

"I know…we actually won," agreed J. He looked over at Sarah who was looking worse for wear. "You fought pretty good yerself… I mean for a bitch an all."

Sarah looked at J with a look of utter disdain, "Gee…thanks a lot."

J looked down at the shotgun Ash had given him and knew what he had to do, "We gotta go up there no matter how fucked up it's gotta be and get this to Ash."

"Yeah…he did save out life with it an all," agreed Shaggy.

"Then let's go," snapped Sarah running towards the elevator. Shaggy watched her go the turned to Violent K who shrugged and ran after her.

****

Back to the main event…

Ash was now holding on by a thread and knew he couldn't fight Butterfly much longer. Ash saw Butterfly form an energy sword and swing it as Ash who ducked and punched Butterfly in the jaw then spun around and knocked Butterfly into the tv monitors with a roundhouse kick. Butterfly regained his composure and chuckled, "Let's see how you like THIS!" Butterfly raised his hands and as he did all the TV monitors removed themselves from their original spots and soon where all floating behind Butterfly who smiled and brought his hands down. Sending all of the TVs at Ash who managed to avoid most of them but one hit him in the chest and another in the side of the head. "Time to end this."

"Not yet ya ugly son of a bitch!"

Butterfly's eyes widened, "What?! It can't be!" he bolted around and stared at ICP and Sarah.

"You better believe it," grinned Shaggy.

"Yo Ash! Catch!" J wound back and just as Ash had down threw the shotgun in the air. The moment he did Butterfly blasted the three of them with a laser that sent them smashing into the wall and unable to move. "I'll deal with you three later," he turned back to Ash and gasped as he saw himself staring down the shotgun which was aimed right at his heart. 

"Guess the jokes on you," remarked Ash. Not giving Butterfly even a second to respond Ash opened fire a single time blasting several things out of Butterfly's spine but most notably, his heart which fell to the ground with a sickening splat. Ash knew he had it and aimed his shotgun but once again just as he was about to pull the trigger the venom hit him again. Only this time it was like a tidal wave and Ash fell to his knees. 

"The venom is taking it's final stages…you have less then a couple minutes to live!" cackled Butterfly weakly. "Good try with the heart…" Ash bit down on his lower lip and aimed his shotgun at the heart which Butterfly was getting closer and closer to. Ash closed his eyes pulled the trigger once and dropped the shotgun and let his head fall to the floor. Ash forced his eyes open and saw that the heart was in a million little pieces. Ash moved his eyes up and saw Butterfly staring down at the destroyed heart in disbelief. He looked down at Ash in open-mouthed shock. "But I'm a fucking demon," the moment this reference to _Dogma_ left his lips he burst into flames and fell back exploding as he hit the ground. The paralysis affect on ICP and Sarah was released and the three where at Ash's side helping him up. Ash began to feel little bits of his strength returning but still felt as if he was on deaths door. As soon as they lifted him up an earthquake rocked everything around them and explosions began to burst from all around them. 

"Only one way outta here," said J pulling Ash along with Shaggy and Sarah to the nearest window and leaping through it. Ash saw that they where plummeting to earth and turned his head to J. 

"Any reason why you did that?"

"The only way to get away from the explosions. Hopefully the Carnival will disappear and we'll end up right back where we where before we hit the ground."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Well…I didn't really think that far."

"Typical."

"Fuck you ho! I saved yer damn life!"

"More of that lack of respect shit," observed Shaggy as they continued to fall. "Just when we had something good goin too."

"I hope we hit the ground," muttered Sarah. At that moment they saw a white light over the horizon that was was spreading in every direction causing everything it touched to disappear. It soon came to them and they found themselves surrounded by a white light."


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**__**

Chapter thirteen-The long hard road out of hell

"There you are you lazy slut!"

"Huh?" Sarah shook her head and looked around wildly. She was no longer on anything that would constitute carnival grounds. "I'm back home…" she thought.

"Hey! I'm talkin to you Sarah! Pay attention god damn it!"

"Murray?" Sarah recognized that voice a mile away. She turned around and saw her boss at the record store she worked at standing in the doorway of the door to the area behind the store. 

"Oh you remember me? How sweet…now hurry up and get in the fucking store if you want to have a job!"

Normally Sarah would have quietly made her way back into that sweat box hell hole of a store but something in her. Something that had been planted as the result of her experiences in the Dark Carnival awoke her and she walked towards her boss and looked into his eyes. "Murray…fuck you I quit." Without allowing Murray to say anything in response, Sarah shoved him aside and stormed away deciding now would be a good time to consider going back to school and learning how to open her own record store.

****

Elsewhere…in the city of Detroit 

"There you two are!"

"What?" Violent J and Shaggy opened their eyes and looked all around them. They where no longer in the Dark Carnival but rather in their dressing room. ICP didn't recognize the man in the doorway but figured he was with the arena they where playing at. Neither member of the group knew were they where.

"You guys have about 600 pissed off Juggalos out there demanding ICP get out there. You better hurry I'm not sure how much longer _Twiztid_ can keep them busy!"

J shook his head, "Yeah…don' t worry…we're on our way."

"Okay," the man nodded and shut the door.

J turned to Shaggy, "Well come on Shaggs! Let's get the fuck out there and put on a fucking show!" J got ready to walk out but was stopped by Shaggy, "What man?"

"Don't you think we're a bunch of hypocrites now? Makin money off of something we don't believe in anymore?"

J thought for a moment then looked at Shaggy quizzically, "What are you fucking stupid?"

"Good point," Shaggy high fived J and ran out with him, Microphone in hand.

****

Somewhere in the FF7 world…

Ash blinked several times and looked around, he was standing in the same place he had been when he fell asleep in his car. He also realized he was leaning against his car. "We did it…we killed the Butterfly." Ash looked ahead and saw the town that he had originally decided to stop in to fix his cars. "Where the hell are you guys?" Ash looked around and saw that he was all alone. "I guess they went back to wherever they where before…" Ash decided that there was little more to do here and walked over to the door to his car sliding it in and turning the key which was already in the ignition. To Ash's surprise the car started with ease and Ash put his foot on the pedal and headed for the nearest town. "Sure I still haven't made it back home," he said to himself. "But then again that's not really anything new." He sighed and decided that when he did get to that town he would take a nice long vacation.

The-End

Well that's all…the end of what has been the longest and biggest project to date. This is something I have put everything I have into and I hope the end result is something you the reader have enjoyed. Thank you for bearing through this fan fic and please let me know what you think of this. I would like to thank the many people who reviewed the original 3-page teaser and encouraged me to give this a shot. I'd also like to thank FF.NET for giving me a place to give this fan fic and others a place where it can be read and enjoyed by all. I really have no idea where I'm going from here but keep an eye open and be sure to head over the _Tenchi Muyo!_ Web site _The Void under the Stairs_ and check out my new column. Once again thanks for reading and please let me know your opinions on this unique crossover fan fic.


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